For ten years Gary McKinnon became the unwilling focus of Anglo-US diplomatic relations. A computer systems analyst living in London, he firmly believed that the US government was withholding vital information about the presence of UFOs. The unremarkable lives of he and his mother Janis changed dramatically one morning in March 2002 when Gary phoned to tell her that he had been arrested and spent four hours at his local police station being interviewed about hacking into US government computers. Two years later, on 7 October 2004, the US government filed a request for Gary's extradition and on 7 June 2005 he was arrested. Extradition to the US seemed certain and so, fearing that Gary would take his own life rather than face being taken away to face seven counts of up to ten years each, Janis's extraordinary battle began.
